Bane of the Gods
by fanficfantasies
Summary: Story Two of the Cathy Chronicles: Cathy took on the challenge of traveling inbetween the worlds. Now she finds herself in the mysterious world of Inkheart. But after a strange dream, she finds herself in the Twenty-First Nome, keeping more secrets, getting more problems, and trying to deal with the strange thought of having a family again... Series on hiatus.
1. Chapter 1

_Pink, pink, pink. What is with all the pink?_

The portal, which I had so gracefully jumped in about an hour ago, lead me to a world that seemed to have pink everywhere. It was on banners, signs, posters, even on pristine pink ribbons on people's fingers. It was for cancer or something. I could care less.

I mean, yeah, my mom's Persephone, the Greek goddess of flowers, but that doesn't mean I have to like bright colors. I generally like the dismal blacks, browns, and muted colors of the Underworld better.

Oh, some of you new readers must be confused. Where do I start... Hi! I'm Cathy Robingale, daughter of Persephone. I'm what's called a demigod, the offspring of a god and a mortal. It turns out that there is a whole camp for people like me, Camp Half-blood, where all the children of the Greek gods can live, train, get away from monsters, etc. When someone, a.k.a. savoir of Olympus Percy Jackson, disappears from camp I end up going on a quest to get him back. Lots of important stuff happens that I'm not going to explain here, (what's the point of documenting this stuff if no one's going to read it?), but at the end I jump in a portal that's suppose to take me to the other worlds so I can help them all. That was all Hera's fault, so blame her if I come trespassing in your world and leave it in shambles.

That's it, isn't it? That's it.

Wait! I think I left out the part that in every world I have to overcome a challenge, learn a lesson, and teach a lesson and that I can't go back to my world until I get through all of these ones. And that if I don't do this my world, which is in the middle of a horrible war already, is going to get over run by the titans, who are like evil gods. While I'm world surfing, Percy Jackson and Jason Grace are going to bring the Greek and Roman gods together in my world.

Gee, I wonder who got it better. Me, who has to go through who-knows-how-many worlds and face who-knows-how-many challenges and teach/learn who-knows-how-many lessons. Or Percy and Jason, two people who only have to connect one world and go on one quest.

At this point I'm not sure where the portal took me. It looks like just a normal town and I can't see any one who seems to be an enemy. I just kept walking and watching, but I couldn't see anything different than a normal town. I was getting no where.

My stomach let out a gurgle. How long has it been since I've last eaten? It was breakfast at the hotel, with Michel and Ilya, my two best friends.

The thought of them brought sadness to my heart and a blush to my checks. Ilya was the a girl I met, a daughter of the Muse of flutes. I met her while she was playing the flute in Camp Half-blood's garden. She accompanied me on the quest to find Percy, and we became the best of friends.

Michel's more... complicated. He's the son of Aphrodite and Hesphutas, but an apprentice to Hermes. He has a large birthmark that goes across his face, but other than that he's a hunk. When I met him I had a strong desire to kiss him, something I did do and am still blushing to this day about. Although my brain is still overwhelmingly confused about the issue, it turns out that he was best friends with me when I was little and spent my winters in the Underworld (you'll have to go back to story one for more information on that). I guess that's why I kissed him. I even had a crush on him, and he the same to me. So this kiss appropriate and not appropriate at the same time, since I was so young I had no memory of my time in the Underworld. We agreed to put that past us and start over, which would have worked if I didn't have to go through with this insane mission.

My stomach rumbled again, as if saying, _Wake up and give me food!_ Of course this place didn't take American money or dacramas (I got weird looks when I pulled the money out) so I rooted into the garbage and got a discarded peach pit, which I took to some grass in-between two houses. I used my hands to dig a hole just big enough to stick the peach pit into the ground and concentrated on it growing.

I'm pretty sure you're thinking _What the heck!_ or _Are you insane?_ about now. But before you call the loony bin on me, I should remind you of my parentage.

I have no idea who my dad is, I assume he died shortly after I was born. But my mom is Persephone, Greek goddess of flowers. Demigods generally get the powers, personalities, fears, etc. from there godly parent; hence the fact that flowers bloom and wilt depending on my mood, and that one time I was able to make a seed accelerate its growth. Since Persephone is married to Hades, if the season is fall or winter, I can do things to gems; like the time that I managed to make my special gem flower grow. One more thing I've found I can do is, if Demeter (Persephone's mom) is happy with me, is that I can grow food by will. That's what I'm trying to do now, but it requires prayers to Demeter and lots of concentration.

Finally three apricots grew, which I wolfed down eagerly with caution so I could save the pit. Hunger somewhat abated, I continued to go down the main road. Maybe it can lead me to some sort of resting spot.

After walking quite a ways, I managed to run into a library. It was a small and quaint one, but it was a place that I could rest without being accused of loitering, which was good enough for me.

The library had one wooden door that squeaked when I went in. There were two large book cases that held the library's collection of books on the left, the chairs that made the sitting area on the right. I sunk in to a cushy chair to rest my legs. As soon as I sat down my energy faded. It was obvious I wouldn't be walking for a while.

I took stock of myself. I still had the outfit on from Aphrodite's present, though I had no lipstick or earrings, and I looked like my normal self. I spent some time daydreaming about a feast or a bath while I picked leaves out of my hair and tried to make myself presentable. Once I looked somewhat presentable, I decided to check my backpack.

I pulled it off my back and looked at the C sewn on the opening flap. Michel had given this to me as a parting gift. Michel...

_Snap out of it._

Here's the list of stuff found in the backpack Michel enhanced. Aphrodite's used mirror, my gem flower, one t-shirt, one pair of capries, one pair of under garments (socks, bra, underwear, etc.), one bag with a large assortment of fruit, one bag of bread, one jar of jam, one knife ('cause it would be a waste to have jam and not a knife), one thermos of juice, one water purifier, one package of Oreos, one book...

_Wait. A book?_

I drew the book out of my backpack. It was red with a lizard near the title. At the bottom of the page there was some words, maybe a part of the story, but red flames were eating the words. It took forever for me to figure out the title, (probably 'cause I have ADHD and dyslexia) but I think it said Inkheart.

_Inkheart?_

I have no idea how that book got into my backpack, but there has to be a reason. So, against my ADHD/dyslexia and logical side, I opened the book and began to read aloud.

Now you new readers are probably trying to figure out what's illogical about reading a book aloud. The problem is last time I read a book series the minute I finished the last page the story came to life right where it left off. It was a little creepy, and it might not be accidental. I wasn't so ready to test fate.

But I was bored. So that made up for it.

I flipped to a passage in the middle of the book. They were describing a character who had the name of Capricorn. It can't be just me that thinks his name's stupid. He had a long cape, wanted riches, and had cold, steely eyes.

I was halfway through the passage when the librarian, an old man that was the only person in the room with me, disappeared. And then another man popped into the room.

He was tall, with a black cape around him. His eyes were cold and unforgiving, and he gave off and essence of fear. It was Capricorn, the man I was reading about.

Capricorn huffed as he looked around the quaint library, eyes taking in everything. Finally his eyes rested on me, trailing down to the book Inkheart. He strutted over to me like he owned the place and then ripped the book from my hands. We sort of had a stare off, but I didn't try very hard to win. I was hoping he'd underestimate me so I can roundhouse kick him when he turns around. He's evil, so he deserves it.

Capricorn had just turned around, heading to the maintenance door, when I slid out of my seat and went into my karate position.

Capricorn's ears perked up and he whirled around to, dropping his cape. His eyes almost said, _Do you dare?_

Well I do, you idiot.

Before Capricorn could blink twice my foot shot up and nailed his jaw. His hand went there immediately, but he shook out of his daze fast and sent me two punches I easily blocked. It's on.

Capricorn was trying to use stealth to bet me; sending one punch and then changing position before a barrage of punches. So I decided to be the rock in the storm and only send out punches when he's vulnerable.

The fight didn't last long. Soon Capricorn was knocked out on the floor.

I decided to get the heck out of there before Capricorn woke up and before anyone came to investigate the noise.

Then... (right on cue to) the maintenance door opened and the book tender stepped out.

His eyes went to me, to Capricorn on the floor, to the book Inkheart, and then back to me.

Oh crap.

Ok, let me give you a short monologue of the last three days.

Turns out the book tender, Mo is his name, knew of Capricorn.

Wait, that's an understatement. A few years ago Mo was reading the book Inkheart aloud with his wife and two year old Meg (his daughter) when his wife disappeared, replaced with Capricorn and Dustfinger, some other friendly but sneaky dude. Long story short, Capricorn made it out of the house and started to reek havoc on this world.

Turns out that in this world when you read stories out loud, people or things can come out of them as long as there is a replacement for it. So if I read and apple out of a book, something small, like my golden nuisance of a belt, would have to go in.

And yes, that actually happened.

Mo let me stay in the hotel with him, since his daughter was with her aunt. He taught me about reading things out of books, and got me enough food to fill my backpack to the brim. I was able to get perfect amounts of sleep, eat lots of food, and not have to be running from monsters everyday.

It was suspicious. At the very least, I was expecting this to be like one large dangerous camping trip where you're always moving. This was turning out different. Or was it the calm before the storm?

On the third night I decided that I would tell Mo what was up with me tomorrow. At this point I decided that he should know what he's gotten himself into.

So I went to sleep, backpack and knives with in reach, with a full intention of waking up tomorrow to go eat breakfast in the world of Inkheart.

I can be so stupid sometimes.

_It was obvious that I had fallen into some sort of demigod dream. There was no way that I could just dream up something as soft as this. My normal dreams are the dark and torture type._

_I was sitting on a hill overlooking a plain. The plain was so large I couldn't see the end of it. In the center of the plain was a girl. She looked about twenty-ish with long black hair and orange sandals. She was wearing a white shirt with a pink rose on it and a fluffy green skirt that got layered by the knees. It was... it was Persephone!_

_Persephone laid onto the grass and stared into the blue sky. I followed her gaze. It was boring. There wasn't even clouds!_

_Then a person appeared in the distance. It was a man. He had shaggy brown hair and brown eyes. He was wearing all brown clothes, or was he covered with dirt? He had a briefcase in his hands, carrying it like he does it all the time. There was something in his other hand, but I couldn't see what it was._

_When he came into Persephone's line of sight, she smiled brightly. The man set down his briefcase and rushed to hug Persephone. He swung her around like she weighed nothing; like those scenes in a movie where the lovers meet again and the man swings the women around before he kisses her. Just edit out the kissing._

_Actually, scratch that last part, because once Persephone lands the man plants her with a kiss. Then they both sit down on the grass._

_Persephone snapped her fingers and then a woven basket of the best garden fresh foods landed in-between them. The man raised his eyebrows. Persephone laughed._

_"Complements of Demeter." she said._

_"In other words you stole these from your mothers garden." the man chuckled._

_Persephone reddened a little but was otherwise unaffected. She plopped a grape in her mouth. "It still tastes good." she mumbled._

_The man chuckled again, but he gratefully ate from the stolen fruit._

_Soon they were done eating. The man reached into the pocket of his coat and pulled something out._

_"No," Persephone gasped. "You couldn't have."_

_"I did." the man responded. "Here you go." the man handed Persephone the object._

_"How?" Persephone was still staring at the object. "How did you get this Asphodel?"_

_"Well, I just went to the Fields of Asphodel and picked the flower..."_

_"Right from under my husbands nose?"_

_"It was tricky, I'll give you that."_

_Persephone held the object out so I could see it. It was a pure white flower in the shape of a lily with a light green stem. It seemed to have an aura, like Thaila does since she's part of the Hunters of Artemis. I could see why she liked it so much. It was naturally beautiful._

_Persephone focused on it an it hardened into gem. The surface had turned rainbow, and the stem brown. So that's how she makes her gem flowers. _

_"The will be the best of the group." Persephone said, coming up to meet the man's eyes._

_"You're welcome." he smiled as he said it and received a friendly punch from Persephone._

_But suddenly she got serious. "I need to talk to you about something."_

_The man got curious. "What?"_

_Persephone unconsciously rubbed her belly, which I noticed was bigger that normal. The man's eyes followed her hand. Then he gasped._

_"No..."_

_"Yes." Persephone tucked the gemmed flower into her pocket before resting her hands on her belly. "You have a daughter, Julius..."_

_The world around me seemed to bend into a mixture of blue and green. It took me a while to realize it was me bending, not the world. I felt like I was being melted into a movable mush. I closed my eyes to try to take my mind off of the incredible pain that was going to turn into a heat stroke if this didn't stop fast. My mind just kind of stopped, to the point where I was falling in and out of consciousness without realizing it._

_My body felt like an outside world, but I willed my hands to close on my backpack and knives. I wasn't really sure if it worked or not. I was hoping it did._

_I opened my eyes for the last time, to only see nothingness. I went into unconsciousness there and then._

_**My life sucks. **_

**A/N: Sorry this wasn't what you guys were looking for... but this does eventually become important. Next chapter is the Kane Chronicles enterence!**


	2. Chapter 2

You know you're me when:

a) You come home from school to find out you won a contest and that you're now rich.

b) Your only problem in life is you're younger sister.

c) You have a strange dream that includes your mom, who's a goddess, and then proceed to randomly fall in an alleyway while feeling like you were melted, frozen, cooked, refrigerated, and reheated all in two seconds.

You guys all know what I usually get.

When I woke up in an ally, I immediately took stock of myself. Head attacked, check. Limbs, check. Backpack and all other supplies, check.

_Well, at least I wasn't mugged._

I sat up once I felt I had full control of my limbs. It took a little energy, but I managed to prop myself up against a wall while I waited for the blood to get back into my legs. Then I had a small breakfast (well lunch since it's afternoon here), a piece of bread with jam and an orange, while I contemplated what to do.

There was no way I was still in the world of Inkheart. One look from outside the alleyway told me that. I'm pretty sure that there aren't _Great Deals on all in store Electronics!_ in Inkheart. Though I could be wrong. I wasn't in Inkheart for very long.

Even if I was in Inkheart, I don't know where I am in Inkheart. I have food that would last for at least a week, but I don't have much more than that. At the very least, I have to find shelter by the time the nighttime comes. I don't want to be in an ally when the muggers come out.

My legs were fine by now, so I planned to head out into my new environment. But I stopped. Something felt wrong.

I looked down at myself. I was wearing some capris, a V-neck shirt and a hoody. My Nike sneakers weren't ripped or anything, and the golden belt wasn't weighing me down anymore, since I read it away. Then I saw something dangling down from my neck. It was an amulet.

The amulet was circular and hanging around my neck on a blue ribbon. It was blue with a picture of something that looked suspiciously like a backbone on it. The backbone figure was a strait, vertical line with four lines running through it. At a first glance, it looked like something that came out of an antique shop. But it seemed to be telling me to go north.

That's another way you can tell you're me, when you find you have an amulet you never knew you had that mysteriously tells you where to go when you're in a different world.

I didn't really have anywhere to go anyway, so I followed the amulets internal radar. The whole time I walked, I tried not to think about the dream. It was to frustrating. I distracted myself by tailing another girl who was walking in the same direction I was.

The girl had blonde hair and blue eyes. Black combat boots were on her feet, reminding me of Thaila. She was wearing broken in jeans, a T-shirt that had Brooklyn written on it, and a leather jacket. She was carrying a white staff under her arm and juggling groceries in her hands. Ear phones from an I-pod were stuck in her ears. There was nothing that made her seem like to much of a threat, she just seemed to radiate weird.

I followed the girl for a while. Turns out that where a woke up was the shopping section of the town, well, more like city. As soon as I made it out of that area there were huge apartment complexes, layered stores, and roads full of traffic. It took _forever_ to walk through that city; luckily the girl I was tailing didn't have a car either.

It was around thirty minutes (but it seemed like forever) before it was just the girl and I walking across one of the large bridges that cross a river. This was one of the ones that are for people only, not cars. The girl was walking as close to the east side of the bridge as possible. I followed behind her at a safe distance until we got across. I couldn't help but think of the last time that I was near a body of water...

_Stop it. Look where you are._

Without realizing it, I had followed the girl to a warehouse.

Time to do some basic facts here. There was no reason that a girl who looked well fed and cared for to go in a warehouse. So rather she's a drug dealer, or something was hiding behind the Mist. I just assumed it was number two.

I stared at the house and imagined that I was wiping the grime off an old window. It worked and I saw it for what it really was.

Perching on top of the warehouse was a large, completely white, mansion. There were doors on every side of the house, all with people the size of the door carved into the wall next to them. Next to every door there were windows that covered the rest of the walls, each with their own set of what I'm guessing is hyroglifics next to them. Then there were stories that made the mansion look like a square pyramid. There were four windows on each side of the stories, each with hyroglifics written next to them and lights to illuminate them. The roof was like a balcony, which I could vaguely see a sleeping figure of... crap, is that a griffin?

I heard a sound of a sliding door, which broke me out of my gaping. The girl was gone. There was no where she could have gone but up a metal staircase that wound all around the side of the warehouse and to the mansion on the roof.

After what seemed like a lifetime of climbing up stairs, I made it to the entrance. It was a square of timber the size of a garage with no door handle or knob. There weren't even enough cracks along the edges for me to pry it open with my knives. How did that girl get in?

I ripped the amulet off my neck and gripped it to keep me from punching something. I'm not quite sure why my first instinct was to punch things, but I'm not sure about anything right now. This stupid thing was my only lead and it's a dead end.

Unconsciously, I loosened my death grip a little. I stuck my thumb, first finger and middle finger out with my thumb parallel to the ground. Then I pointed my little gun figure at the door. The door didn't budge. I don't know why I expected it to anyhow. I didn't even know why I made the gun figure in the first place. It was starting to hurt my hand.

I was even more frustrated that before. I waited. Ten seconds, twelve seconds. When I started to try to send telepathic messages of vulgar words to the door, I finally clicked open.

It didn't really click, the resistance just kind of went away. The timber slid up into the ceiling, like a garage. I stepped in only to be almost knocked away by a blast of wind.

_Oh gods. What. The. Heck._

I made it up to see what would normally be a classy living room. There were carved stone pillars reaching up to the ceiling and glass displays of weapons and musical instruments hanging on the walls. There was a long snake skin rug that was impeccably clean, like no one walked on it. A statue of a human with a bird (stork or crane) for a head sitting on a throne was towering over me. Looking closer I could see it's a fountain, not a statue. There was a huge fireplace with a flat screen TV over it, with massive leather sofas on either side. Out the windows I could see a wrap around terrace with a pool, dining area, and fire pit. Out of other windows I could see three wraparound balconies. At the far left of the room I could see wooden doors marked with eyes and a bajilion padlocks.

But it wasn't like that now. A thin layer of frost covered everything, the water in the fountain was frozen and overflowing, and wind was coming out of no where. Another girl in what looked like linen pajamas had what looked like a boomerang out and was murmuring something in auditable. Whatever it was is working. Frost was melting almost immediately after she started talking.

"Felix! Stop making the living room a Artic Palace for your penguins!"

Felix looked up sheepishly. He, along with three little four year olds, were playing with about five penguins that were sliding around the room. One of the four year olds, a girl, screeched as the penguin she was riding on slid from the couth onto the ground. Well, the ice that was suppose to be the floor.

The girl I was tailing, now wearing the linen everyone else was wearing, came into the room. "Ugg! Felix, again!" If possible Felix looked even more sheepish. "I'll give you some help Alyssa."

I had waited long enough. "What's going on?"

Everyone's eyes turned to me.

Alyssa started to murmur something that sounded like "I'll get Carter" and then left the room. All the little kids, and Felix who must be at least eight, stopped talking and even the penguins seemed to get it, since they stopped their chirping. If penguins chirp anyway.

Then the girl I was tailing stepped forward and stuck her hand out. "Hi! My name's Sadie, though you should already know that, and welcome to The Twenty First Nome!" she spoke with a small British accent.

I was confused, but I shook her hand. She didn't let go of my hand after we shook and led me down a hallway. I tried to memorize where Sadie was taking me, but I got lost fast.

"Umm... what's going on?" I asked.

"With Felix? He does that a lot. He's really obsessed with penguins..."

"No. I mean in general. What is this place?"

Sadie frowned. "Guess you haven't gotten the tapes yet. You should have found them with the amulet. Long story short, there was a war against Aphrois a giant evil snake of chaos, we won after a lot of fighting, and now here we are in the Twenty First Nome trying to teach new trainees about the path of the gods, which is sadly still banded in most on the Nomes."

After that messed up monologue, I was even more confused than I was before. _How did she know about the amulet? What tapes? Who is the chaos snake? And war? The path of the gods? WTH?_

All I could manage to say was, "W-what?"

"I'll have Cater explain. He's a little better at the subtlety. But don't tell him that. I have a reputation to keep as a younger sister."

I couldn't tell exactly where we were, just that we were on the third floor. But soon we had made it to Carter's room. Sadie didn't even bother to knock, she just pushed the door open.

I didn't pay much attention to the room. All I memorized about it was that there was a kitchenette and that sliding glass doors lead out to a balcony that looked out at New York Harbor. I could see Manhattan and the Statue of Liberty.

_Wait, Manhattan? I'm next to freaking Manhattan! Gods, I could just to across the river to Camp Half-Blood if I wanted to! _

Knowing that going to Manhattan wasn't a true option made my homesickness hurt even more. Then I realized something else.

_Am I on Earth? Or am I on a duplicate or something?_

I pried my eyes off the door and looked at the bed. There was a boy sitting in the middle of it. He must be Carter.

I looked at him and practically choked. He was African American, wearing pleated khaki pants, a button-down shirt, and black dress shoes. He had brownish-hazel eyes and curly black hair. He had a brown leather bag sitting next to him along with a curved sword, which creepily reminded me of the weapon Kronos used to kill his father Uranus in Greek Mythology. The stereo system was blaring in his room and he was laying still on his bed with his eyes closed.

I stared at him a little longer. I was amazed by how much we looked alike. Something was telling me that it mattered a lot. I just couldn't tell how.

When we walked in Carter's eyes opened. Sadie turned the stereo off while Carter rubbed his eyes. After he blinked a few times he looked up at Sadie.

"Why didn't you knock?"

Sadie smiled devilishly. "What does knock mean? At least I didn't blast the door down."

Carter grinned a little like he was remembering something. Then he turned to look at me. "Who's this?"

"A new trainee."

"Hey, this trainee can speak for herself, you know." I remarked. "Sadie told me something about a war. What's that about?"

"You have to always make things difficult for me, don't you Sadie?" Carter mumbled. At little louder he said, "Sit down."

I sat down on his bed and Carter explained to me what happened to him, starting from the Red Pyramid incident all the way to the Battle against Aphrois. Sadie left about halfway through to go back downstairs.

When he was done I started flashing questions. "So the Egyptian gods exist?" It didn't surprise me to much, except for the fact I'd never figured it out before.

"Yep. They are a real as can be."

"Where are the adults?" At the end of the story, Carter mentioned that there would be adult chaperones.

"Sadie convinced them to leave. Actually, it was more like they got feed up with us and then Sadie screamed at them."

I laughed. "No wonder they didn't want to stay here." I thought a little bit more. Then I asked Carter, "Where are Zia and Walt? You said that in the end Zia and Walt moved in here."

Carter sighed. "There was some demonic activity in (?) and Walt and Zia volunteered to go investigate."

I could feel for Carter. Even though me and Michel were not technically and item, I missed him so much it hurt. It was taking all my self control to not go back to Camp Half-Blood or seek an entrance to the Underworld just to talk to him. Knowing Camp Half-Blood could actually be just across the river is really killing me.

It's not like I can go anyway. I have a mission to do, no matter how horrible and self-demanding it is.

"It's a lot to process the first day." Carter knocked me out of my daydream. "You should get some rest. We can talk more tomorrow."

I looked out the sliding glass doors. The moon was just coming up into the sky.

Carter took me to my room. It was on the second floor, next to Alyssa's. I didn't look around much; I was lacking in sleep since I got none the night before. I just wanted to crash.

I changed into a pair of the linen pajamas that everyone around here wears, and then laid on the white sheets of my bed. I looked at the large wooden headrest with the hyroglifics written on it. Carter had told me specifically to make sure I used it, something about sinking to deep into the Duat while you're sleeping.

I looked at it for a while, but took Carter's warning. I rested my head on it, and despite its uncomfortable ness, and fell asleep immediately.

I was probably about midnight when I opened my eyes, still half asleep. My brain was still fuzzy, and all that I can remember is that I there was a thunk sound that came from the floor, and that my neck hit the sheets, not the wood headrest, before I fell back asleep.

And now I curse my grogginess. If I woke up sooner I could have gotten the headrest from the floor and went back to sleep.

Instead, I get more problems that I can handle.

Yeah, I mean strange, Duat induced dreams. I'm not sure if they are better of worse than demigod dreams, but they are pretty bad.

_Did I mention that my life sucks? Even if I did, it's worth mentioning again. _


End file.
